MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (September 26, 2004) - The East Tennessee State women's golf team picked up where it left off a year ago, finishing third on the team leaderboard at the Unlimited Potential Bay Tree Classic Sunday at the Bay Tree Golf Plantation. It was the first event of the 2004-05 season for the Lady Bucs.

A year ago, the ETSU women's golf team finished with eight Top 10s in nine events, including five Top 5 efforts. On Sunday, the Lady Bucs posted a program record for third-round score with a 305, and finished 17 strokes back of team champion UNC Wilmington, which posted a weekend score of 891.

The Lady Bucs were led by junior Ashley Barton (Seffner, Fla.), who posted a three-round score of 7-over 223 and finished sixth on the leaderboard. She ended the event 13 strokes behind individual champion Michelle Jarman of UNC Wilmington.

Along with Barton, freshman Natalia Giraldo (Cali, Columbia) also finished in the Top 10 with an eighth-place showing at 224 for the tournament. Fellow freshmen Maria Ringdahl (Kalmar, Sweden) and Cindy Phillips (Johnson City, Tenn.) both finished tied for 30th, while senior Danielle O'Reilly posted her best round of the event with a 75, finishing tied for 39th.

The Lady Bucs will be back in action Oct. 4-5 at the Jacksonville State Lady Gamecock Classic in Jacksonville, Ala.